Authentic Wires Field to Win Breeders' Cup Classic
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Photo: Skip Dickstein/Tim Lanahan
Authentic wins the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland
When B. Wayne Hughes watched Authentic cross the wire first in the rescheduled Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs, the owner of Spendthrift Farm did so from the comfort of his home. With COVID-19 still raging in the Bluegrass state at the time and spectators limited on the grounds for the American classic, the veteran horse owner reveled in his "Run for the Roses" victory from afar.
Two months later at Keeneland when Authentic lined up once again in the gate to contest the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 7, not even the continued threat of a pandemic could keep 87-year-old Hughes away from the track.
Running in the purple and orange silks of Spendthrift Farm—who owns the colt in partnership with MyRacehorse.com, Madaket Stables, and Starlight Racing Stable—Authentic turned in a textbook, gate-to-wire 1 1/4-mile romp around the Keeneland main track and sealed his reputation as the leader of his division.
"This is the pinnacle and we'd like to keep it going, don't get me wrong," said Spendthrift Farm president Eric Gustavson. "But for Wayne, who has given so much to the game over the years—he's been in racing over 50 years and bought Spendthrift in 2004 and made it into a business. For Wayne it's everything and for us, the team at Spendthrift, that's the best part. Wayne has reached the top of the mountain, and we get to celebrate with him."
Despite his Kentucky Derby win, Authentic did not enter the Classic field as the favorite. Baffert's top contender was Improbable , who had a bumpy start from the break and made contact with several runners before being able to right himself and settle down along the backstretch.
Ridden by Johnny Velazquez, Authentic broke much like he did in the Kentucky Derby and shot straight to the lead where he set the early pace just off the rail. Another fellow stablemate, Maximum Security , followed closely to his outside in second but was pressed early by favored Tiz the Law in third.
Along the backstretch Authentic made it look easy. Improbable raced wide to make up for lost time at the break, and soon managed to get his head in front of Global Campaign to settle in second at the top of the stretch. Tiz the Law, who had come under pressure from Improbable and Maximum Security, began to flatten out coming off the turn and drifted back into fifth.
Despite his best efforts to catch Authentic in deep stretch, Improbable lacked the same capacity for speed as the frontrunner kicked home and pulled even farther away from the pack. Virtually unchallenged in the final strides, Authentic crossed the finish line 2 1/4 lengths in front of his competition.
Improbable held for second, followed by Global Campaign in third. Tacitus , Maximum Security, Tiz the Law, Title Ready , By My Standards , Tom's d'Etat , and Higher Power completed the order of finish.
"I told Johnny, 'This is the horse you're riding this week is the horse that you rode in the Derby,'" said Baffert. "'You can ride him with confidence. You can be aggressive. You can do what you want. And he's just a really top horse."'
"We talked about (the race) and we knew the track was playing pretty decent for horses and it wasn't a lot of speed on the race either," said Velazquez. "So we talked about it and tried to take advantage of it. We tried to put him in the lead, get to the rail, and let him come and get him. And I think he did everything that I wanted him to do.
"Thanks to Bob, who keeps me alive here, and the other owners. Everyone who's given me the opportunity for me to ride this horse and believing in me. I'm getting older and it's just I think I appreciate it now. I've been chasing this race for a long time. It is my first time (to) win it, so to get that, I give thanks to Bob."
Final time for the 1 1/4 miles was 1:59.19, a figure that eclipsed the previous track record of 2:00.07 set by fellow Baffert trainee American Pharoah in 2015. Like American Pharoah, Authentic is now the fourth horse to win the Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic in the same year. Previous victors also include Sunday Silence (1989) and Unbridled (1990).
Due to an malfunction with the timer during the Classic, Equibase hand-timed the race. Fractions are unavailable.
Hughes' Spendthrift Farm acquired a majority ownership interest in Authentic in June, just before he made his start in the June 6 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) at Santa Anita Park. Undefeated up to that point with three wins including victories in the Jan. 4 Sham Stakes (G3) and March 7 San Felipe Stakes (G2)—both at the Southern California track—he ran second in the Santa Anita Derby. Authentic bounced back one start later to win the July 18 TVG Haskell Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park before sweeping the Kentucky Derby in another jaw-dropping gate-to-wire performance.
Authentic's only other miss this year came in the Oct. 3 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course where he finished runner-up to filly Swiss Skydiver following a daring stretch duel. Swiss Skydiver would not fare as well as Authentic in her own Breeders' Cup attempt in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). After stumbling at the start, the Daredevil filly finished seventh.
After the Preakness defeat, Baffert said he took a long look at Authentic's training regimen and made some necessary tweaks to get him back in form in time for the Classic.
"There were two races where he came back where he was really blowing hard," said Baffert. "It was the Santa Anita Derby and the Preakness. So that means maybe I didn't have him as sharp as I love, and he just struggled that day. But we got him back and I've got a great team and we just tightened the screws on him."
In the 16 years since Hughes purchased Spendthrift Farm, the industry icon and his team have worked tirelessly to build both the breeding and racing arm of the operation into some of the most competitive entities in the industry.
It was Hughes who first got involved in expanding ownership through an initiative called MyRacehorse.com, which sells microshares in racehorses. The company, of which Hughes is the majority owner, owns 12.5% of Authentic and offered shares in the colt all the way up to post time of the Kentucky Derby. By the time the colt won the American classic, 5,314 shareholders had purchased 12,450 shares in the racehorse at $206 each. MyRacehorse shares were first available only to California residents in 2018 and then became available nationwide beginning in July 2019.
"This has been quite the ride," said Michael Behrens of MyRacehorse.com. "It's an amazing ride. I could never have imagined that it would end like this. When we set out to do this a couple years ago the idea was to celebrate this sport with as many people as possible, and to have 5,314 people to have an ownership stake in Authentic, I couldn't have asked for anything better. And the partnership with Spendthrift, and Eric, and Mr. Hughes—it's been tremendous having this opportunity. And I just, I really can't believe this happened. I mean, I love racing and I want more and more people to be able to experience this and to have this happen? I don't know, it's crazy."
In addition to his initiatives to expand the reaches of racehorse ownership, Hughes has also been proactive in recruiting top-level talent off the racetrack to begin second careers as stallions. Among those was Into Mischief , sire of Authentic, whose success in the breeding shed has made an indelible impact on the industry and awarded him the title of North American leading sire.
While Authentic seems destined join his sire in the stallion barn at Spendthrift, Gustavson said the team will have to confer about whether the horse will retire forthwith, or remain in training for the next year.
"Tomorrow, we have to make some decisions," said Gustavson. "We have to go over all the implications, talk to Sol (Kumin of Madaket) and make plans for the future. But for tonight we're just going to enjoy.
"I would love to have him back," said Baffert. "I'd love to have all three of them back. Unfortunately, don't get a vote in that. I just hope we get more horses like this. You enjoy them while you have them."
"To say that the horse has brought us a lot of light and excitement and distraction is an understatement," said Gustavson, who accompanied Hughes to the winner's circle along with the the partnership connections. "To have the off-date Kentucky Derby and then the back-to-normal Breeders' Cup and to be able to win those both in one year and with a 3-year-old—man, it's too much."
Bred in Kentucky by Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, Authentic is out of the Mr. Greeley mare Flawless. Consigned by Bridie Harrison to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, the colt was purchased for $350,000 by SF Bloodstock/Starlight West. Authentic holds a 6-2-0 record from eight starts and earnings of $6,191,200.